Books For New Parents

The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet Authors: Joy Hatch and Rebecca KelleyPublisher: New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2010Call No.: 649.1 HAT -[FAM]Summary: What The Eco-nomical Baby Guide advocates is this: raising a kid will not burn a hole in your pocket – if you go green. The basic principal is to focus on Reducing, Reusing and Recycling resources and this book details some of those processes for parents. It suggests you first establish what your baby needs and then choose to meet those needs through eco-friendly means or from eco-friendly companies.

For example, using reusable cloth versus disposable diapers is a smart way to start saving the earth by reducing the amount of soiled diapers disposed of every day. At the same time, using reusable cloth diapers can save you an estimated US$1,900 per year versus buying disposable diapers. Home-made organic baby food is also cheaper for you and better for your child. The authors estimate that a third of spending on baby food can be saved if you prepare your own, compared to buying from the supermarket.

The book emphasises the easy, practical and realistic eco-nomical steps parents can take before and after the arrival of your baby. The authors, who are friends, share their helpful and eco-friendly tips on how they managed to spend less than a thousand dollars preparing for the arrival of their babies, compared to the almost US$7,000 dollars spent by the average new parent.

Read this book to learn how parents who go green can save money, help the planet, and improve their baby’s quality of life.

Contributed by Johan A Rahman, Librarian

Fit Moms for Life: How to have Endless Energy to Outplay Your KidsAuthor: Dustin MaherPublisher: New York: Morgan James Pub., c2012Call No.: 613.7045 MAH-[HEA]Summary: Dustin Maher wants to share a message with moms and moms-to-be – that looking and feeling good like a twenty-year-old is not beyond anyone. This can be achieved through transforming your body and life, by learning to take care of yourself, finding your motivation, setting meaningful and challenging goals, and surrounding yourself with people who will be able to help you achieve your goal.

In this book, you are walked through the process on how to adopt a healthy mindset, how to set good goals, and how to assess your current fitness level, whilst being provided with reality checks on how well you are actually taking care of yourself. As you read, you will discover the five pillars of fitness which, when combined, will result in rapid fat loss which is lasting.

This book has a valuable compilation of dietary advices, recipes for nutritional meals, exercise routines in easy-to-understand pictorial illustrations, and sharing from moms who have successfully embraced fitness for life. Like all plans, a plan is complete only with realistic goal-settings. This book is the comprehensive resource to help chart your course towards your ultimate goal – to look and feel good again.

With trips to the supermarket and to the homes of various moms, Sara provides many practical and refreshing perspectives of making safe and sensible choices for both the pre-natal and post-natal moms. She covers subjects like nutrition, non-toxic toys, baby’s diapers, cleaning products, creating a green nursery, introducing delicious organic recipes that will curb your sweet tooth during pregnancy, and many more other interesting relevant topics that will be highly useful for moms and moms-to-be. For example, she demonstrates how to bake a nutritious and healthy banana pumpkin bread, to curb the sweet tooth that pregnant women usually will encounter. When choosing a mattress for the baby, she also recommends that you go for organic cotton, rather than conventionally grown cotton which account for 25% of pesticides used in the world! There is a segment as well with step-by-step easy prenatal and postnatal fitness workout demonstrations by Patricia Moreno, a motivational speaker and fitness trainer.

This is an engaging audio-visual material that is highly recommended for moms and moms-to-be. Viewers will emerge with a refreshed perspective on how to prepare oneself for pregnancy and to better care for their children.
Note: This is a DVD.

Contributed by Wu Changmei, Associate Librarian

Baby Development: Everything You Need to Know Author: Claire HalseyPublisher: London: DK, 2012.Call No.: 649.122 HAL - [FAM]Summary: Watching your baby’s growth is one of the greatest joys of parenthood. Each milestone is precious and you wouldn’t want to miss a thing. New parents might feel overwhelmed about caring for a newborn baby. This book takes a relaxed and fun tone in guiding anxious and concerned parents through the first few months of their baby’s birth.

The author’s expertise is apparent through the detailed and up-to-date information.

There are quick tips and clear photographs in this step-by-step guide to encouraging a baby's development. It also alerts you to key milestones to look out for: for example when to expect a baby’s first smile or when the baby will take its first step.

In addition, it is packed with games and activities to promote development in five key areas – socialisation, body movement, hand control, communication skills, and cognitive ability.

The book is organized by the child’s age – the first 2 months, 3 to 6 months, 7 to 9 months and so on. The age-based milestones are useful signposts for parents when checking their child’s development, though the author notes that every baby is different, and that some would reach these milestones earlier or later than described in the book.

This book is for anyone with a new baby or expecting a new baby. It provides the essential day-by-day advice for the first 12 months and covers comprehensively the different aspects of the baby’s development.
The author, Claire Halsey, has 25 years of working experience as a consultant clinical psychologist. She has also raised three boys.

Written by a first-time mother for first-time mothers, Erin Bried gathered time-honoured tips from mothers who have raised extraordinary children and compiled them into this book. Using a simple and clear language, this book walks you through pregnancy, childbirth and childcare. While the book may appear thick at more than 200 pages, it is divided into 10 chapters with short step-by-step explanations to help mothers to find and understand the information they need quickly. Useful tips include how to soothe a crying baby, how to introduce your baby to solids, how to put your baby to sleep, how to introduce baby to an older sibling and many more. A whole chapter is dedicated on activities and crafts to remember the special moments of a baby’s first few months, such as a baby diary to capture the precious memories of your baby’s first words, first foods, and first steps.

If you are looking for a book that guides you through motherhood in a simple and easy format, this book is for you!

A comprehensive yet easy-to-follow video guide by the Australian College of Midwives Incorporated, essential knowledge such as baby hygiene, feeding, settling a crying baby and avoiding Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) are introduced in this video compilation.

Here are some sneak peeks:

When bathing a baby, ensure the water temperature is around 39 degrees Celsius.

Touching, massaging, talking are singing are ways to show that you care. For babies who are easily irritable, start massaging over clothes and gradually without.

Breast milk is highly recommended for babies as it contains antibodies and decreases the rate of developing allergies. It’s served at a perfect temperature too.

Learn how to decode baby’s cry. Is baby hungry or uncomfortable? Does baby have a tummy ache or simply wants attention?

Learn how to protect your baby from SIDs by not having too many toys and keeping a smoke-free environment at home.

In this fast-paced world, it helps to have parenting advice condensed into a quick video.

Contributed by Heng Xue Lun, Sharon, Associate Librarian

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